<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>people like us by Arcafira</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23361079">people like us</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcafira/pseuds/Arcafira'>Arcafira</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Omens (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Antichrist Adam Young (Good Omens), Gen, Post-Canon, how do you cope with knowing you're the antichrist, i only ever asked questions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 04:35:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>997</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23361079</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcafira/pseuds/Arcafira</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Two beings of Hell contemplate the choice to be good in the aftermath of the apocalypse. (Or: Crowley becomes a mentor to Adam)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aziraphale &amp; Crowley (Good Omens)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>people like us</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Crowley had draped himself across a chair in the bookshop’s back room when the bell chimed. With a start, Aziraphale set down his tea, straightened his waistcoat, and hurried to the front to begin dissuading another bothersome customer. Crowley watched him go and idly considered moving to one of the shop’s sunnier nooks now that the afternoon sun was streaming through the windows.</p><p>“My dear boy, do your parents know you’re so far from home?” Aziraphale’s voice, muffled by shelves of books, drifted back to him. That tone made Crowley sit up straight—as much as a serpent could sit up straight. That was genuine concern he’d heard from the angel, not the usual fussy annoyance he affected when dealing with customers.</p><p>“It won’t be a problem,” came the confident response.</p><p>Crowley would recognize that voice anywhere.</p><p>“You!” he said upon rounding a bookcase and laying eyes on Adam, the boy who had started, ended, and restarted it all.</p><p>“Hi, Mr. Crowley.” He waved. His smile faltered a bit.</p><p>“Is something the matter?” Aziraphale started in.</p><p>“I have questions,” said Adam, tone suddenly serious. “For Mr. Crowley.”</p><p>Crowley felt his stomach do a little flip. He would never stop being struck by the way this apparently normal human child could don an air of command like shrugging a jacket on or off. Aziraphale looked between the two of them.</p><p>“But first, can I bring Dog in? He’s housetrained and very nice when I tell him to be.”</p><p>“Ah,” Aziraphale worried his ring. “I suppose. Wouldn’t want him out on the sidewalk alone.”</p><p>The smile was back, radiant and charming. “Come on, Dog,” Adam called, opening the door just enough for the transformed hellhound to trot through.</p><p>Crowley suppressed a shiver upon seeing the dog. He didn’t like animals as it was, and this dog seemed like the sort that might nip at your ankles, even if you weren’t a threatening Horseperson of the Apocalypse. Aziraphale flipped the sign on the door to <em>Closed</em>.</p><p>They stood in an uneasy triangle.</p><p>“So, um,” Aziraphale started. “Should I leave you two to your chat?”</p><p>Crowley cast a pleading look at the angel. Something about <em>questions </em>had made him uneasy, gave him flashbacks.</p><p>“You seemed intent on finishing the Wilde by teatime. I don’t mean to keep you from it,” Adam said.</p><p>“Oh, yes,” said Aziraphale, backing away. “I um, was reading that. In the back room. Where no one could have possibly noticed.”</p><p>Adam cast a glance about the shop, either missing or choosing to ignore Aziraphale’s obvious hint that he wished not to be supernaturally observed. Well, that answered some of Crowley’s questions about how much of his power the antichrist had retained after resetting the world. “You haven’t even cracked open the new ones I left for you,” Adam said, tipping his head at a neat row of new children’s books.</p><p>“I’m sure I’ll have them read within the fortnight. Just wanted something comforting and familiar, you understand, after everything that’s happened,” said Aziraphale.</p><p>Through this whole exchange, Dog was eyeing Crowley, and he’d be doubly damned if that was a question he sensed in the hellhound’s eyes too.</p><p>“I’ll leave you three to it,” said Aziraphale, shuffling away, all the while casting glances back at Crowley.</p><p>“Mr. Crowley—“ Adam started.</p><p>“Just Crowley.” He removed his glasses, studied the boy and the hellhound, put his hands in his pockets. “What’s up?” he asked, affecting casualness. In his head, he was very nearly praying, <em>Please, no whispers from Hell. Please, don’t tell me there are signs from Below</em>.</p><p>“Dog and I were wondering how you decided to be good,” Adam said.</p><p>Well. He hadn’t been expecting that.</p><p>The dog whined and cocked his head. When Crowley didn’t answer, Adam pressed forward. “You have occult powers. You can—“ He blinked and Crowley had the distinct feeling that Adam was no longer looking at him but <em>into </em>him. Adam frowned, his focus returning to Crowley’s eyes. “You draw power from Below. It’s bad energy—or at least it doesn’t feel good—but by the time you channel it, it’s different. It’s because you decided to be good.”</p><p>Dog barked, and Crowley heard the truth beneath the sound, the deep howl of a Hell creature. Not menacing, merely the truth of its form.</p><p>Crowley couldn’t remember a particular clear morning when he’d woken up, looked at the world, and thought, <em>I think I’ll do capital G good</em>. What he could remember was seeking white curls in a bustling crowd, finding warmth in a knowing smile over glasses of wine. He remembered, in a garden, witnessing the choice to be defiantly kind.</p><p>“I don’t know if I ever decided to be good,” said Crowley, and Adam made a face at the half-truth. Crowley made himself dig deeper. He shrugged out of habit even though now he was sure. “I’ve done a lot of things. At one point, I kept score—good vs bad—wanted to know what my influence in the world added up to, what that said about me. I made myself miserable with that.”</p><p>“What did you do instead?”</p><p>“I think every moment I’m making the decision to be good. Maybe it’s more obvious to people like us—the choosing to do good. Maybe it’s because we’re worried that we’ll never really escape Hell.” Crowley kneeled and offered a hand to Dog who nuzzled into his palm. Eh, maybe the hellhound wasn’t so bad after all. He scratched behind its ears. “You’ve shown us the world is worth trying to make good, yeah? And everyone is welcome to contribute to that if they want.”</p><p>Adam smiled his brilliant smile. “You and Aziraphale should meet my friends properly sometime. They have loads of questions.”</p><p>Ah, yes, more questions. But hadn’t his own questions gotten him here, sharing a sunny bookshop with his most favorite expression of the divine? What beautiful places would a couple more lead?</p><p>“Sure, kid,” said Crowley. “Love to.”</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>